This dissertation assesses the causes and consequences of gender wage discrimination in Ethiopia. In the first chapter, we estimate the distribution of Gender Wage Discrimination in the Ethiopian urban labor market using quantile counterfactual decompositions. The literature generally finds a u-shaped distribution suggesting the presence of both a sticky floor effect and a glass ceiling effect. Using repeated cross-section data for the years 2006, 2010 and 2014, we find a strong evidence of a sticky floor effect but not a glass ceiling effect in the Ethiopian urban labor market. Our paper also provides evidence that there is substantial difference in the extent of discrimination between working in private and public jobs. Public jobs are less discriminatory for women relative to the private jobs. In the second chapter, we investigate the determinants of the gender wage gap in the Ethiopian manufacturing sector between the years 1996 and 2010 with a particular focus on the impact of the export orientation. This is done both at the intensive and extensive margin. Accordingly, we find that more export orientation helps reduce the firm level gender wage gap regardless of whether it is at the intensive or extensive margin. Our results also provide evidence on the presence of sectoral variation on the association between export orientation and gender wage gap. Export orientation doesn’t have a significant impact on the gender wage gap in the construction and housing goods sector. Segmenting the data in to two we also find that the impact of export orientation in reducing gender wage gap is much stronger for the period 2003-2010 relative to the 1996-2002 period. Finally, we estimate the impact of gender earnings differentials on the technical efficiency of the firm in the Ethiopian manufacturing sector for the period 1996 through 2010. We adopt a two-step time-variant panel stochastic frontier model using a translog production function. Our results provide fresh evidence on the existence of a significant negative association between gender wage gap and predicted technical efficiencies of firms. Further subdividing the manufacturing sector into four different industries, we find that the negative association is consistent in most industries. Our results are also robust to the inclusion of other firm level explanatory variables at the sectoral level.

This thesis is a part of the project No. P504/11/1151 of The Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, entitled The role of plants in the greenhouse gas budget of a sedge fen. In this thesis, the decomposition rate of a standard material (cellulose) is assessed for three types of wetlands, which differ in water regime. The study took place at two localitites of marginal wetlands with standing water (Mokré louky near Třeboň, Záblatské louky), two floodplain localities (Brouskův mlýn and Hamerské louky) and two peatbog localities (intact and mined parts of Červené blato, respectively). The intensity of decomposition processes was compared among the sites using the method of cellulose bags. The bags were made from nylon nets, each was divided into five pockets and a cellulose strip was inserted in each pocket. A filter paper was used as the cellulose. These bags were placed vertically into the soil profile so that the upper sample was lying on the surface and the lowest was at the depth of 25 cm below the surface. At each locality four places were randomly selected and four replicate bags with cellulose were placed on each of them. In total 96 bags were put in place, which makes 480 cellulose samples. Two experiments, differing in length of exposition, were carried out in 2013. The samples were taken from the field sites after three and five weeks of exposure (experiment No. 1 and 2, respectively). In both experiments, the decrease in ash-free dry matter was the highest at Hamerské louky. The lowest decrease in ash-free dry matter was in the mined part of Červené blato peatbog. In the second experiment the decrease of the ashless dry matter was more noticable, which was caused by the prolonged exposure. The lowest decrease of ash-free dry matter was found in depths of 0 - 10 cm below the soil surface at all the sites.

This dissertation shows that the autocorrelation of switching functions can be effectively utilized in combinational logic optimization and synthesis. The procedures developed exploit information contained in the autocorrelation of switching functions to perform optimization of Programmable Logic Arrays (PLAs) and to aid in a multi-level logic synthesis approach called two-place decomposition. A new optimization technique is presented, based on the autocorrelation of switching functions, to find near-optimal variable pairings for decoded PLAs. The results of this approach compare favourably to those of other researchers’ techniques. The key advantages of the new approach are its simplicity and its efficiency. The basic two-place decomposition approach is augmented with various enhancements. These include an improved decomposition merge procedure, the addition of alternate mapping functions for complex disjunctive decompositions, and the incorporation of linearization using the autocorrelation to handle functions that are non-two-place decomposable. A robust implementation of the enhanced method is presented and is used to generate function realizations for comparison with other synthesis methods. The enhanced two-place decomposition method is shown to perform particularly well for functions exhibiting high degrees of symmetry. The dissertation also presents a new synthesis technique that utilizes a particular representation of a switching function called a Reduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagram (ROBDD) and is targeted to two-place decomposition. This new technique allows the two-place decomposition approach to synthesize a much broader range of functions. Although, in comparison to one other synthesis method, the new approach does not perform as well in most cases, it has considerable promise and several enhancements are proposed for improvement. This dissertation also shows that there is a strong connection among autocorrelation, two-place decomposition, and good variable orders in an ROBDD. A first attempt to formally analyze the relationship between autocorrelation and two-place decomposition is presented. Relationships are identified between certain autocorrelation coefficients when particular two-place decompositions exist in a function. These relationships are also connected to the heuristics used in the above mentioned PLA optimization technique. Variable order can have a substantial impact on the size of an ROBDD. This dissertation shows that a good variable order is related to the two-place decompositions that are exhibited in a function. Thus, variable order is also related to the autocorrelation and this relationship can lead to an autocorrelation-based technique for determining good variable orders for ROBDDs. / Graduate

abstract: Epilepsy is a group of disorders that cause seizures in approximately 2.2 million people in the United States. Over 30% of these patients have epilepsies that do not respond to treatment with anti-epileptic drugs. For this population, focal resection surgery could offer long-term seizure freedom. Surgery candidates undergo a myriad of tests and monitoring to determine where and when seizures occur. The “gold standard” method for focus identification involves the placement of electrocorticography (ECoG) grids in the sub-dural space, followed by continual monitoring and visual inspection of the patient’s cortical activity. This process, however, is highly subjective and uses dated technology. Multiple studies were performed to investigate how the evaluation process could benefit from an algorithmic adjust using current ECoG technology, and how the use of new microECoG technology could further improve the process. Computational algorithms can quickly and objectively find signal characteristics that may not be detectable with visual inspection, but many assume the data are stationary and/or linear, which biological data are not. An empirical mode decomposition (EMD) based algorithm was developed to detect potential seizures and tested on data collected from eight patients undergoing monitoring for focal resection surgery. EMD does not require linearity or stationarity and is data driven. The results suggest that a biological data driven algorithm could serve as a useful tool to objectively identify changes in cortical activity associated with seizures. Next, the use of microECoG technology was investigated. Though both ECoG and microECoG grids are composed of electrodes resting on the surface of the cortex, changing the diameter of the electrodes creates non-trivial changes in the physics of the electrode-tissue interface that need to be accounted for. Experimenting with different recording configurations showed that proper grounding, referencing, and amplification are critical to obtain high quality neural signals from microECoG grids. Finally, the relationship between data collected from the cortical surface with micro and macro electrodes was studied. Simultaneous recordings of the two electrode types showed differences in power spectra that suggest the inclusion of activity, possibly from deep structures, by macroelectrodes that is not accessible by microelectrodes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Bioengineering 2015

Les forêts de montagne sont des ouvrages de protection naturels, qui en fonction des situations sont en mesure d'offrir une protection efficace vis-à-vis des risques naturels d'origine gravitaire : les chutes de pierres, les avalanches, les glissements de terrains, les laves torrentielles et l'érosion. Les interventions forestières, telles que les grands reboisements issus de la politique de Restauration des Terrains en Montagne (RTM) du XIXe siècle, ont démontré leur efficacité pour maîtriser l'érosion des versants en lien avec le phénomène de torrentialité. Depuis 2006, les nouveaux Guides des Sylvicultures de Montagne (GSM), français, suisse et italien, préconisent des nouvelles techniques sylvicoles pour la gestion et l'optimisation de la fonction de protection des peuplements forestiers de montagne. Ces préconisations concernent entre autre la réalisation d'ouvrages biologiques par l'utilisation des rémanents. Ces ouvrages ont pour vocation de limiter et le cas échéant de stopper la propagation de blocs rocheux, et de limiter le départ d'avalanches. Ils sont composés de grumes laissées au sol, parfois empilées les unes sur les autres, maintenues dans la pente par leur propres souches, d'autres souches ou des arbres encore sur pieds. Mais, si des directives techniques existent pour réaliser de tels ouvrages, aucune donnée scientifique n'était à ce jour disponible pour quantifier la pérennité de ces ouvrages.Ce travail de thèse s'inscrit dans la volonté de fournir ces connaissances scientifiques en se focalisant sur l'étude de la corrélation entre la durabilité des rémanents et leur dynamique de protection face aux chutes de blocs. L'objectif principal de cette thèse consiste à fournir des connaissances sur la cinématique de décomposition du bois et de proposer des modèles d'efficacité des rémanents en fonction du temps. A partir de mesures in situ, en laboratoire et d'une approche basée sur l'analyse de chronoséquences, nous avons étudié la cinématique de décomposition de trois espèces d'arbres présentes dans les Alpes (Pinus nigra, Picea Abies, Fagus sylvatica), et analysé les corrélations entre les variables physiques, chimiques et mécaniques qui ont été utilisées. Des premiers modèles prédictifs de l'évolution de l'efficacité des ouvrages pare-pierres en fonction du temps ont ainsi pu être construits. / Mountain forests are structures of natural protection, which are, depending on the situation, able to offer an effective protection against gravitational natural hazards: rockfalls, avalanches, landslides, debris flows and erosion. Forest interventions, like the reforestation policies of the Restauration des Terrains en Montagne (RTM) of the nineteenth century, have demonstrated their efficiency in controlling slope erosion in connection with the torrent phenomenon. Since 2006, the new Guides des Sylvicultures de Montagne (GSM), of French, Swiss and Italian origin, advocate new forestry techniques for managing and optimizing the protective function of mountain forest stands. These recommendations include the realization of biological works by the use of slash, among others. These structures are designed to limit and, if necessary, stop the propagation of rockfalls, and limit the trigger of an avalanche. They are composed of tree stems lying on the ground, sometimes stacked on one another, held onto the descent by their own stump, other stumps or standing trees. But, if guidelines exist to produce these structures, no scientific data has been available to quantify their longevity. This PhD thesis aims to provide additional scientific understanding, researching the correlation between the durability of slash and the protection dynamic against rockfall. The main objective of this thesis was to add to the body of knowledge on the kinematics of decaying wood and propose models of efficiency of slash over time. With field measurements, laboratory analysis, and chronosequence methods, we investigated the kinematic decomposition of three species in the Alps (Pinus nigra, Picea Abies, Fagus sylvatica) and analyzed the correlations between the physical, chemical and mechanical variables used. Initial predictive models of the evolution of the efficiency of rockfall structures over time have thus been built

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:49:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:02:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 09998.pdf: 7978978 bytes, checksum: 0d05419d6a29044ea66445399e3ae075 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:50:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00611.pdf: 1307972 bytes, checksum: abd48879a25a63f5d754a39e52f80b6b (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IEA/T / Utah University

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:55:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:06:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

O desenvolvimento de aplicações de forma a atingir níveis de desempenho próximos aos níveis teóricos de uma determinada plataforma é uma tarefa que exige conhecimento técnico do ambiente de hardware, uma vez que o software deve explorar detalhes específicos da plataforma em questão. Pelo fato do software ser específico à plataforma, caso ela evolua ou se altere, as otimizações realizadas podem não explorar a nova arquitetura de forma eficiente. Auto-tuners são sistemas que surgiram como um meio automatizado de adaptar um determinado software a uma arquitetura alvo. Essa adaptação ocorre através de uma busca empírica de valores ótimos para parâmetros específicos de uma aplicação, a fim de ajustá-los às características do hardware, ou ainda através da geração de códigofonte otimizado para a plataforma. Este trabalho propõe um módulo auto-tuner orientado à adaptação parametrizada de uma aplicação paralela, que trabalha variando os fatores da dimensão do domínio bidimensional, o número de processos e a extensão das regiões de sobreposição. Para cada variação dos fatores, o auto-tuner testa a aplicação na arquitetura paralela de forma a buscar a combinação de parâmetros com melhor desempenho. Para possibilitar o auto-tuning, foi desenvolvida uma classe em linguagem C++ denominada Mesh, baseada no padrão MPI. A classe busca abstrair a decomposição de domínios de uma aplicação paralela por meio do uso de Orientação a Objetos, e facilita a variação da extensão das regiões de sobreposição entre os subdomínios. Os resultados experimentais demonstraram que o auto-tuner explora o ganho de desempenho pela variação do número de processos da aplicação, que também é tratado pelo módulo auto-tuner. A arquitetura paralela utilizada na validação não se mostrou ideal para uma otimização através do aumento da extensão das regiões sobrepostas entre subdomínios. / Achieving the peak performance level of a particular platform requires technical knowledge of the hardware environment involved, since the software must explore specific details inherent to the hardware. Once the software is optimized for a target platform, if the hardware evolves or is changed, the software probably would not be as efficient in the new environment. This performance portability problem is addressed by software auto-tuning, which emerged in the past decade as an automated technique to adapt a particular software to an underlying hardware. The software adaptation is performed by an auto-tuner. The auto-tuner is an entity that empirically adjusts specific application parameters in order to improve the overall application performance, or even generates source-code optimized for the target platform. This dissertation proposes an auto-tuner to optimize the domain decomposition of a parallel application that performs stencil computations. The proposed auto-tuner works in a parameterized adaptation fashion, and varies the dimensions of a 2D domain, the number of parallel processes and the extension of the overlapping zones between subdomains. For each combination of parameter values, the auto-tuner probes the application in the parallel architecture in order to seek the best combination of values. In order to make auto-tuning possible, it is proposed a C++ class called Mesh, based on the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard. The role of this class is to abstract the domain decomposition from the application using the Object Orientation facilities provided by C++, and also to enable the extension of the overlapping zones between subdomain. The experimental results showed that the performance gains were mainly due to the variation of the number of processes, which was one of the application factors dealt by the auto-tuner. The parallel architecture used in the experiments showed itself as not adequate for optimizing the domain decomposition by increasing the overlapping zones extension.

abstract: Multidimensional data have various representations. Thanks to their simplicity in modeling multidimensional data and the availability of various mathematical tools (such as tensor decompositions) that support multi-aspect analysis of such data, tensors are increasingly being used in many application domains including scientific data management, sensor data management, and social network data analysis. Relational model, on the other hand, enables semantic manipulation of data using relational operators, such as projection, selection, Cartesian-product, and set operators. For many multidimensional data applications, tensor operations as well as relational operations need to be supported throughout the data life cycle. In this thesis, we introduce a tensor-based relational data model (TRM), which enables both tensor- based data analysis and relational manipulations of multidimensional data, and define tensor-relational operations on this model. Then we introduce a tensor-relational data management system, so called, TensorDB. TensorDB is based on TRM, which brings together relational algebraic operations (for data manipulation and integration) and tensor algebraic operations (for data analysis). We develop optimization strategies for tensor-relational operations in both in-memory and in-database TensorDB. The goal of the TRM and TensorDB is to serve as a single environment that supports the entire life cycle of data; that is, data can be manipulated, integrated, processed, and analyzed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Computer Science 2014